End food truck wars

Time to lay down arms

Copyright 2013: Houston Chronicle

February 10, 2013

For food truck opponents, it must feel like the barbarians are at the gates. That last refuge from the rolling restaurants is now on the verge of a total invasion. Yes, the wall around downtown is beginning to crack. Electric-only infiltrators have slipped through the no-propane barricade, with food trucks at downtown's Houston Pavilions and the weekly farmers market. Propane-powered mini-kitchens taunt from within spitting distance, holding lunch hours in Midtown. But the war isn't lost. That final battle at City Hall looms on the horizon. All that stands in their way are four proposed changes: allowing propane downtown, allowing food trucks to be within 100 feet of tables and chairs, allowing food trucks to provide their own furniture and eliminating the mandatory 60-foot space between food trucks.

We, for one, welcome our food truck overlords and encourage city council members to get rid of these restrictive rules.

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Outlook

There is no zero-sum game between downtown restaurants and food trucks where one loses if the other wins. Letting food trucks into downtown will help restaurants by bringing more folks onto the street and creating a greater sense of energy and dynamism. One only has to look at Market Square to see how Niko Niko's - essentially a food truck without wheels - can attract people for lunch or dinner and create spillover for nearby bars and restaurants.

And the trucks won't just be able to go everywhere, they'll need private property to park on. We foresee once-empty parking lots transformed into gathering centers for the lunch crowd.

The tunnel system, for all its air conditioned virtues, is a drain on downtown that makes it look like a ghost town. Food trucks can provide a counterbalance that will have people walking down the street, perhaps reminded of the restaurants that have been there the whole time, out of sight, out of mind.